default value for a pointer parameter - c++

Question

I'm trying to create a class for employees, and have a problem with its constructor.
My class looks like that (please note the name parameter which is char* type):
class Employee {
int id;
char * name ;
float salary;
int hours;
int extra;
public:
//constructor
Employee(int, char *, float, int, int);
//Getters and Setters:
void setId(int a) { id = a; }
int getId() { return id; }
void setName(char * c) { name = c; }
char * getName() { return name; }
void setSalary(float f) { salary = f; }
float getSalary() { return salary; }
void setHours(int h) { hours = h; }
int getHours() { return hours; }
void setExtra(int e) { extra = e; }
int getExtra() { return extra; }
};
I built a constructor and I want it to have default parameters, and I don't know how to deal with the name parameter to have a default of let's say "unknown".
This is the constructor:
Employee::Employee(int i = 123456789, char * na, float sal = 30, int ho = 45, int ex = 10)
{
id = i;
name = na;
salary = sal;
hours = ho;
extra = ex;
}

Answer 1

You can use a character array, and initialise the array to point to the first element of the array. You can store the array for example as a static member:
// in the class definition
inline static char default_name[] = "unknown";
// in argument list of the constructor
... char * na = default_name, ...
Although, you may want to consider whether it makes sense for name to be pointer to non-const. Perhaps a pointer to const would suffice. In such case, you could initialise it to point to the literal "unknown" directly.

Answer 2

A cleaner version
class Employee {
int id = 0;
char *name = nullptr;
float salary = 0.0;
int hours = 0;
int extra = 0;
And you don't need to have constructors, this depends on the case, but you get the idea that by initializing the variables on the definition you reduce the inconsistency of having multiples constructors for example